Report: Anthony Kim to miss 4-5 months with wrist and elbow injuries

Monday, May 21, 2012

Anthony Kim's miserable season is getting even worse, as PGATour.com's Brian Wacker reports that the three-time PGA Tour-winner will miss 4-5 months after hitting a rock while playing out of the rough in his opening round at TPC San Antonio last month.

He will undergo treatment and rehabilitation for the injuries and hopes to be back in time to play the Fall Series. Surgery is not expected to be needed."I’m obviously disappointed because I’ve been fighting to get my game back on the right track and having an injury hold me back is frustrating,” Kim said in a statement. “I’ve been through this process before, though, and know that you have to put in your work with treatments to get healthy. That will be my focus for the next four or five months so I’m in a position to return healthy towards the end of the year and be fully ready for 2013.”Kim was examined by Dr. Thomas Graham of the Cleveland Clinic — the same doctor who reconstructed his left thumb two years ago — following his withdrawal from the Wells Fargo Championship.This marks the second time in the last two years Kim will miss significant time due to injury.

But the four or five months Kim will take off now still doesn’t explain why he has played so poorly the rest of this season after a strong finish to the 2011 season. Before the Texas Open, Kim had played eight tournament, made two cuts, withdrawn from one tournament and been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.The injury and the rehab from it (there is no surgery planned) will take Kim out of tournaments for a while. The question now is what will be look like when he comes back. Will he be the player who battled Rory McIlroy in Asia in a playoff last fall, the player who was a Ryder Cup hero in 2009, or the player who couldn’t seem to make a cut this year?For now, we’ll go with “Kim has an injured right wrist and elbow,” and go from there.